by Kody Boye
Without the ability to know, and with no reason to dwell on it, I bid Lindsay goodnight before spreading out alongside Asha.
Though what warmth the girl exuded did little to comfort me, it was enough to lull me into a slight doze—which, eventually, turned into a deep sleep.
I woke to the sound of rotors chopping the air.
“Here comes the cavalry,” I heard Captain Sin say, then opened my eyes to watch as he began to wave in the helicopter.
The snarls and bays of Reapers lit the morning air as the helicopter made its way toward the vicinity of the club. Terrifying, now, that They could be seen fully in the morning light, They extended long, white limbs and with clawed hands attempted to grasp what They could not reach. They bared Their teeth and screeched as the pilot began to navigate the helicopter toward the roof.
“They can’t land,” I said.
“No,” Spears replied, “but they can throw ladders down.”
As if on cue, simple rope-and-plastic ladders were thrown down to us, each serving as an anchor that each of us would use to make our way onto the arbiter of our personal salvation. I was the first to lift myself to my feet, followed by Spears and the rest of the soldiers. Asha, requiring my assistance to stand, stumbled to her feet, and in doing so, grimaced as the pain from her likely-broken tailbone.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” the girl replied, though I could tell it was a lie. “I’m fine.”
I decided to ignore this statement and instead helped lift her foot up onto the first rung, then steadied her by placing my hands on her waist as she began to climb. It was only when my hands slipped from her midsection, and when two soldiers reached down to drag her into the helicopter, that I myself began to climb.
While dangling in midair, I turned to look at the world below me and found the Reapers once again attempting to reach the fire escape.
“Persistent buggers, aren’t They?” I heard one of the men ask the other as I continued to climb the ladder.
I hauled myself into the aircraft and looked down just in time to see one of the creatures launch itself toward the fire escape.
I watched in horror as it locked its fingers around the lowest rung in the metal ladder, then as another vaulted itself from the ground and began to scale the back of its companion.
“SIN!” I screamed. “SIN!”
The man turned.
The Reaper thrust itself onto the roof.
Shots rang out in the morning air and silenced the creature before it could let loose another scream, but it was too late.
By this point, the Reapers had begun to use Their dangling companion as a bridge to the roof and were doing everything They could to reach the rooftop. They jumped. They screamed. They clambered up the back of Their companion and thrust Themselves onto the rooftop.
I drew my gun and attempted to take aim as the creatures began to rush the group below, but couldn’t get a clear shot. My bullets went wide and clipped the foundation of the opposing building, causing debris to fly everywhere and further add to the chaos of the situation. One soldier below vaulted onto the ladder and attempted to latch onto it, but fell and landed, haphazardly, at the rooftop’s edge.
He slid off a moment later—into the crowd of Reapers grappling for him below.
I watched in horror as he was torn limb from limb, piece by piece, until he resembled nothing more than a screaming piece of bloody flesh.
“Come on!” I screamed, bearing my weight into my feet as I once more took aim. “I’ll cover you!”
Spears went first, and climbed with gusto I couldn’t have imagined from such a panicked woman, as Sin drew his sidearm and began to fire at the creatures. The five remaining soldiers—in the midst of panic and despair—fired into the crowd, but could do little as the Reapers swarmed and began to use one another as step stones to the rooftop.
Captain Sin directed another soldier to take the ladder.
Spears drew her sidearm and began to fire alongside me.
I, struggling to maintain my composure in the face of such panic, swallowed the lump in my throat, then took aim at the mob gathering at the lowest side of the building.
I fired.
My shot went wide.
The debris impacted with the creatures but did little to stun Them.
“No!” I screamed. “NO NO NO!”
“Calm yourself Ana Mia!” Lindsay Spears barked. “You’re not going to hit anything if you keep panicking.”
“But I—”
The woman fired a shot and hit one of the creatures directly in the head, causing its neck to snap back and its body to fall off the roof.
Sin had just begun to climb the ladder when I heard a trumpeting noise fill the air.
Harvesters? At this crucial hour? What could They be doing here?
I lifted my head just in time to see one of Their laser beams come firing from the front of Their aircraft. It decimated the crowd, clearing at least a third of the Reapers’ population. The beasts snarled and revolved Their heads around to face the ship as the beam of light normally reserved for bringing people in was deployed.
From Their depths appeared several Grays in black body armor, armed with the same glowing weapons I had seen aboard the Mothership.
The unit dropped to the ground and began firing into the crowd, offering just enough of a distraction for Sin and the rest of the men to high-tail it into the helicopter.
“Could’ve used Them ten minutes ago!” Sin yelled as I hauled him aboard the ship.
I said nothing as the helicopter shifted and began to rise.
“Let us sit down!” Lindsay Spears screamed.
The helicopter tilted and made a full revolution until it faced the far side of the lake. It then began to move due north, away from the carnage and the Gray unit that had descended to rescue us.
“Did you,” Sin started, “talk to Them?”
“I,” I started. “I didn’t—”
We heard your cry, Grayson’s androgynous voice said somewhere in the depths of my mind. Your suffering. Your lamentations. We came to help as soon as we could.
Thank you, I thought, unsure if the creature could hear my voice.
Sin merely stared at me, his face blank and devoid of emotion, as the helicopter spun toward the direction of Burgundy Hospital.
As we flew, and as I turned to look back at the ongoing battle behind us, I felt for one brief moment we were safe.
Then I realized this was likely only the beginning.
“Eleven men!” Dubois screamed. “Eleven men! Dead! All because you screwed up.” She jabbed a finger at Sin’s chest and screamed directly in his face.
The captain, apparently having experienced her rage before, remained calm as the woman leaned in close enough to where spittle flew from her mouth and against his face. “Ma’am,” he said, clearing his throat. “We did everything we could to ensure that the Coyotes—”
“The Coyotes?” she asked, then laughed. “The Coyotes? I’ve never heard of a Reaper swarm so large. Where did They come from?”
“That’s the thing. We don’t know.”
“You don’t know? Jason, we just lost a fifth of our hospital’s population, and you’re telling me you don’t know?”
The man remained silent as the woman continued to stare at him.
Dubois turned her eyes on me and came forward, then, her face alight with the same rage but eerily restrained as she centered her gaze on me. “And you. You’re going to tell me you had nothing to do with this. Aren’t you?”
“You think I drew Them onto your men?” I asked, baffled.
“What other reason would there be for such a large swarm coming out of seemingly nowhere?” Dubois asked. “You’re damn lucky the Grays came when They did, otherwise… otherwise—”
The woman shook her head.
She spun to face the window that looked out at the city of Austin and silently seethed as Captain Sin and I stood nearby—watching and anticipatin
g another response. I merely watched the man out of my peripheral and waited for him to say something further, but when he didn’t, and when Dubois spun to face us once more, I stiffened and centered my attention directly on the woman.
“You’re dismissed,” she said. “Both of you.”
“Ma’am,” I said. “What about—”
“You are to not leave this hospital under any circumstance. Understood?”
“But I—”
“I said: understood?”
I nodded.
“Good,” the woman growled. “Now leave. Before I decide to exact revenge for all the lives that were lost.”
I couldn’t believe it—absolutely, could not believe it. She was going to blame the Reaper attack on me, of all people, when she had sent me into the field to draw out and help eliminate another threat?
I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her anymore, so I turned and made my way out of the open doorway and into the hall, where I parted ways with Captain Sin without another word and began to head in the direction of the nurse’s quarters.
It wasn’t long before I found Asha—lying on a stretcher, looking miserable as ever, with Taylor McKinney standing directly beside her.
“Yeah,” the man said, his Australian accent thick in its declaration. “You guessed it. Broken tailbone.”
“How long is this going to take to heal?” Asha groaned.
“A few months, at the very least.”
The girl whimpered and reached out to me upon my approach. I took hold of her hand and squeezed as she let loose a stream of tears that would’ve made Niagara Falls jealous.
“Ana Mia,” she said. “I was so scared. I thought we were going to die.”
“So did I,” I said, tightening my hold on her hand. “Are you okay?”
“I’m still recovering from the shock,” my friend said, “but I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll leave you two be,” Taylor McKinney said, then turned and departed the room. He made sure to draw the curtain across the threshold to allow the two of us our privacy before disappearing completely.
In the silence that followed, I tried to determine whether or not it would be worth it to tell Asha about what had transpired, and that I was now forbidden from ever leaving the hospital again.
“So,” the girl said, speaking for me now that I wouldn’t speak for myself. “I heard Dubois yelling.”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“I’m grounded,” I said.
“Grounded?” Asha frowned. “What’re you—”
“I’m not allowed to leave the hospital.”
“What? Why?”
“She thinks I’m the reason the Reapers were drawn to the club—that it’s my fault that all those men were killed.”
“Was it?” my friend asked.
I didn’t know what to say in response. On one hand, I had called out to Them—whomever and whatever They might have been—but on another, I hadn’t instinctively been reaching out to Reapers. The fact that They’d come while I’d been trying to lure in the Coyotes was just an unfortunate side effect of my new and uncontrollable gift.
Was I guilty of yet eleven more deaths? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to be sure. I didn’t even want to think about it. All I knew was that the Reapers had come shortly after I had summoned the Coyotes, and for that reason, it was, at least in part, my fault.
Sighing, I settled down in the chair across from Asha’s stretcher and cupped my face in my hands.
“Hey,” Asha said. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened. You didn’t know it would bring the Reapers to us.”
“I know,” I sighed. “It’s just… I keep thinking about all the people that are dying around me and I can’t help but wonder…”
“Can’t help but wonder… what?” Asha frowned.
“If you’ll be next.”
My friend didn’t say anything. Rather, she remained silent—which, in all actuality, was worse than if she would’ve rebutted my statement in the first place.
Rather than wait to hear what she might have to say, I rose and began to make my way out of the nurse’s quarters.
“Where are you going?” Asha asked.
“The skybridge,” I replied. “I need some air.”
The parking garage where ambulances used to be stationed was empty, and eerily similar to the way I felt inside.
From my place atop the skybridge, where I looked on at the empty compound, I tried not to think of all the people that had died, but to no avail.
“It’s my fault,” I said to no one in particular. “It’s my fault that they’re all dead.”
It had begun to dawn on me that this was a universal truth in the minutes after I had left the nurse’s station. Wracked with guilt, eaten by despair, I could do little more than stare at the world around me while trying to piece together the emotions that swam through my consciousness. It seemed like the Devil was there, perched on my shoulder, while the Angel had left to do its duty, compelling me to think the darkest thoughts imaginable. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to die—because in thinking about it, why did I, a simple seventeen-year-old girl who had evaded death time and time again, deserve to live?
I didn’t know. I didn’t particularly care.
I knew, in staring down at the ground over the skywalk’s railing, that if I aimed my fall just right, I could die upon impact.
The thought had become almost too entertaining when the door to building A opened, startling me from my devilish notion.
“Hey,” I heard Mary-Anne said.
I sighed. Of all the people I wanted to see, she had to be one of the last.
“Hey,” I managed to say.
“My mother just told me about what happened last night,” she said.
“And?”
“She blames you, for sure, but I don’t.”
“No?”
“No.”
I remained silent—waiting, hopefully, for even more reassurance. When none came, however, I expelled lungfuls of pent-up air and tried to keep from frowning, but to no avail.
“Mary-Anne,” I said.
“Yeah?” the girl asked.
“Why are you here?”
“I didn’t want you to be alone.”
“I mean… why are you really here?”
“I guess,” the girl started. “I guess I just feel guilty for everything that’s happened to you. It’s my fault that you got in trouble. It’s my fault that my mother made you go out. I mean… if you think about it, all those people… it’s… well… my fault that they’re gone.”
“You can’t say that.”
“Would those missions have happened had you not taken me out of the hospital?”
“I—”
“Exactly,” the girl said. “Which is why I’m going to have to live with it, not you.”
“But it isn’t your fault,” I said after a moment. “It isn’t my fault either, though.”
“No?” the girl asked.
I shook my head. “It’s Their fault,” I said, jutting my chin toward the sky.
A Harvester ship passed over the hospital—slowly, methodically, with what intent I couldn’t be sure. I swore it stopped just briefly to examine us standing on the skywalk before going on its merry way, but regardless, I didn’t pay much attention to it. I simply turned to face the younger girl and reached out to take hold of her hands.
“Your mother’s wrong,” I said after several moments of silence. “None of this is our fault. It’s not mine, it’s not yours. It’s not even hers, so much as I want to say it is. It’s because of Them that those monsters were in the streets—that those people died.”
“I…” Mary-Anne paused. “You’re right,” she then said. “You’re absolutely, one-hundred-percent right.”
“We can’t keep blaming ourselves for what They’ve done to us, Mary-Anne. Our lives… They were made far worse all because of Them.”
“I understand.
”
“Now then,” I said, turning back toward the doorway and starting forward. “About Halloween…”
Chapter 15
My favorite holiday of the year was fast approaching. With at least a dozen kids to prepare treat packages for and a limited amount of time to do it, Mary-Anne and I worked our fingers to the bone—combing through boxes of salvaged goods to find child-appropriate gifts. It wasn’t often we found something, given the nature of the supply runs, but we did manage to secure toothbrushes, toilet paper, and other common essentials that would make life easier for both the kids and their parents.
“You really think they’ll like this stuff?” I asked as I shoved a roll of toilet paper into one of the Easter baskets we’d spray-painted orange especially for Halloween.
“I think so,” Mary-Anne replied. “I mean… it’s not going to be like it was before, but some of them won’t even know the difference.”
It was astounding to even think that there were children who had been born after Them—children who, without a precursory knowledge of the old world, knew nothing except fear. I imagined being a child during this time and wondered how I might cope with the knowledge that the world was a dangerous place—that the night, so primitive and docile, was a haven for things that could once only be found in the greatest of nightmares—and realized that I might not even survive it. But to them, the ones who had come After? It was nothing new, nothing new at all, which both infuriated and saddened me.
I was mad because these children would never know a life without Them, saddened because from this point forward the world would never be the same.
Those children—those poor innocent, one to six-year-old children—would grow up in the shadow of a world governed by the Grays.
As I wrapped one of the specially-prepared packages in cling wrap, careful not to damage the covering or any of the items within, I glanced up at Mary-Anne and wondered how she’d coped growing up in a city so heavily-populated by Coyotes, Serpents, Reapers, and Harvesters. At only fifteen, she seemed headstrong enough—determined in that she was willing to live life as she saw fit and seemingly without fear—but she’d been little more than a baby when They came, when They saw fit to take over the world.
